THE LOVE-CHILD. 



[Continued.^ 



IN the smith's shop, where many of the villagers were accustomed 

 to congregate on winter evenings, to gossip, gambol, and play at ALL 

 FOURS on the anvils, I had heard horrid tales about bloodhounds in 

 foreign parts; and my grandmother's parlour was adorned with a 

 coloured print, in which a leash of the breed were depicted in the 

 act of tearing down a poor naked black. One of them, as I remem- 

 ber to this day, had leaped upon the man's shoulder, and thrusting 

 his head forward, had grabbed him by the throat. Blotches of 

 blood were distributed about the dog's jaws the victim's tongue 

 lolled forth it was an awful affair, and I never could look at it 

 without suffering that strange cutaneous emotion which produces 

 " goose's flesh." I was far from an obedient boy ; and my wrathful 

 grandmother had often threatened to take me by the scruff of the 

 neck, hurl me over the palisadoes of Squire Patch's court-yard, and 

 let the blood-hounds " worry me a trifle, or two" these were her 

 very words. 



The ugly monsters (they had been christened SIN and DEATH) 

 were, as I have stated, now on my track their business was with me. 



My first impulse was to go down the bed of the brook, break 

 cover in Cuckold's Harem field, and make off towards Farmer Belroy's 

 house, or my grandmother's hovel. Belroy, I felt satisfied, would 

 protect me; and my formidable grandmother was in my estimation, 

 single-handed, a match for any thing that drew the breath of life. A 

 hare once took shelter, literally on her hearth even beneath the 

 grate ; and in defiance of a whole army of red-coats belonging to a 

 distant hunt, and a full pack of strong hounds, she preserved the 

 wretched animal's life. The dogs and their attendant gentlemen 

 broke through her miserable window and the mud wall beneath it ; 

 but my fierce grandmother, who was a washerwoman, stood in the 

 breach, and by dexterously plying the simple artillery of boiling water 

 from an enormous crock, compelled the beleaguers to beat a retreat, 

 after having suffered considerable loss. Most of the leading hounds, 

 and many of the gentlemen and their horses, were dreadfully 

 scalded : the dogs howled with agony, and ran to and fro, snapping at 

 every thing in their way, as though they were mad. One of them, I 

 remember, flew at an old elder tree in front of the hut, and seemed 

 to derive immense consolation from gnawing its rough trunk. The 

 gentlemen roared hideously, and the horses snorted, neighed, 

 whinnied, kicked, pranced, pawed, and tore up the hard gravel 

 road with their desperate teeth, in so frightful a manner, that I be- 

 sought my grandmother, in screams, to desist. Not she indeed ! 

 While any of those who had battered her mud castle remained within 

 range of her liquid projectile, she continued to deal it forth by the 

 ladle-full ; exclaiming, ever and anon, " You'd worry a hare, would 

 you ? She has turned into a witch, you see ! When water fails I've 



